After a tough week that included a thrashing at the hands of its archrival, Utah is ready to move on to its weekend set of games.

The Utes travel to Texas this weekend for the UT Arlington Invitational where they will square off against UT Arlington on Friday, Abilene Christian on Saturday, Missouri State on Sunday, and UT Arlington again on Monday.

While Utah is still recovering from the beatdown they suffered against BYU, head coach Bill Kinneberg is happy to put the game behind them.

“We’ll get through it today,” Kinneberg says. “We’ll talk about it, and then we’ll start practicing. We’ll flush it and move on.”

Despite issues the pitching had against the Cougars, Kinneberg is a firm believer that the struggles seen in that game are not a sign of things to come.

“[Tuesday] was an aberration,” he says. “I believe our pitching is our strong point of our team and will be throughout the year. We got off on the wrong foot and played terrible defense. It was a combination of a lot of things.”

Something the Utes will have to compensate for this weekend is the loss of starting catcher, AJ Young. In the game against BYU, Young suffered a concussion, meaning he will be out for two to three weeks. Young is the newest member of the growing injury list for Utah, joining Braden Anderson, Dallas Carroll, and Tyler Yagi.

Stepping in for Young will be senior Konnor Armijo, who was subbed in at backstop during the fifth inning against the Cougars. Like any teammate would, Armijo feels bad for his fellow Ute but is excited to get more playing time.

“I’ve caught four games on a weekend before,” Armijo says. “My body feels healthy and everything, so it’s definitely something I’m excited about and looking forward to do.”

Changing catchers could present a problem for some pitchers, but Armijo feels he has a good connection with each of the pitchers, which will make the transition smooth.

“I’m comfortable with the whole pitching staff,” Armijo says. “I feel like the pitching staff is comfortable with me back there too … I kind of know the strengths and weaknesses of each pitcher and their tendencies and everything. Each pitcher I feel 100 percent comfortable with.”

After the rough loss, Utah is trying to get back into the groove they had earlier in the season. Armijo stresses that players need to move on from mistakes, not letting them turn into more errors to put the team in an even bigger hole.

The Utes, however, don’t want to confuse not making mistakes with being less aggressive. Utah is looking to stop waiting for things to happen, but rather go out on the diamond and make some plays. Armijo believes that if the team goes back to just having fun while playing, the results will be in their favor.

“I think right now we just aren’t playing loose,” Armijo says. “I think the biggest thing is just playing with more confidence.”

The game between Utah and UT Arlington is scheduled to start at 2 p.m